Fossil fuel comb
ustion and other human activities are now emitting more than 35 billion to
ns of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere each year. The ocean and pl
ants on land emit more than 20 times as much CO2 into the atmosphere as hu
mans do\, but they reabsorb almost as much\, along with about half of huma
n-produced emissions. Ground-based measurements accurately record the glob
al impact of these processes on Earth’s atmospheric CO2 budget and its t
rends. However\, their resolution and coverage is not adequate to identify
the “sources” emitting CO2 or the natural “sinks” absorbing this
gas. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory – 2 (OCO-2) is NASA’s first satel
lite designed to measure atmospheric CO2 with the accuracy needed to ident
ify these sources and sinks. After its launch in July 2014\, its spectrome
ters will record more than 100\,000 CO2 measurements each day. In this tal
k\, we will describe the OCO-2 implementation approach\, status and plans.